Bare Metal Minimalist Embedded Apps

Contains code for building bare metal, os-less, minimalist apps for MCUs.

Main objective is to make everything as easy and small as possible. Used as a trampoline, e.g. for trying out processor features or getting up and running quickly.

Compiling an application

$ make BOARD= APP=

where is any of the boards in board/ directory, and is any of the apps in apps/ directory.

Make sure TOOLCHAIN_DIR and CROSS_COMPILE is set, e.g. TOOLCHAIN_DIR = /home/human_entity/toolchain/arm-none-eabi-gcc CROSS_COMPILE=arm-none-eabi-

Adding a new application

Create a new folder, apps/. Add the C files and header files needed to apps/. Assuming you need modules gpio and uart, create apps//.mk: TARGETNAME := $(APP) CONFIG_GPIO := 1 CONFIG_UART := 1 CFILES += $(wildcard apps/$(APP)/*.c) INCLUDE += apps/$(APP)

In main, the first thing to do is to call cpu_init(); board_init();

Create a text file apps//README describing your new fancy application.

Adding a new module

Create a new folder, modules/. Add the C files and header files needed to modules/. Create modules//.mk: CFILES += $(wildcard $(modules_dir)//*.c) INCLUDE += $(modules_dir)/

If the module needs a family or processor specific implementation, add

$(eval $(call include_hal_implementation,))

to .mk. This will cause compile dependency to hal_.c or hal_.c, whichever is found first.

Create a text file modules//README describing your new fancy module.

For example, see modules/gpio and find files "hal_gpio_*".

Adding a new board

Create a new folder, boards/. Two files are mandatory in this folder: board_.mk board.h

The mk file must at least describe the architecture, family, and processor. The board.h file defines pins, leds, buttons, etc in the sense of processor pins. Best way is to copy a board.h file from another board and work with that.

If necessary, a board specific c file can be added, boards// board_.c. This will then be compiled automatically. It should include board.h and implement board_init().

Adding a new processor, family, or architecture

The startup file, the crt0 file, can either be put in the processor directory, the family directory or the arch directory. For an arch-family-proc triplet, it must be found in one of these. The processor directory is searched first. If not found there, the family directory is checked, and finally the arch directory. This means there can be a generic startup for the family, being overridden by some processors or families. It may either be a c file or an S file.

The cpu file must also be implemented. It can exist under processor/family/arch directories. Different from the startup file, all cpu files in an arch-family- triplet are included. This allows for having weak functions in an arch-cpu file, being overridden for some families or processors.

Finally, there must exist an arch//arch_.mk file. This is responsible for including the family make file, setting correct toolchain flags, calling correct processor make file, etc. See existing arch_*.mk files for examples.